Abuse of dominance (or monopolization) is certainly the most debated area in competition policy. The recent cases involving digital platforms, which are being investigated in many jurisdictions around the world (including middle-income and developing countries), have only increased the interest of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers. 

This 3-day course, which you can attend either face-to-face or online, will provide you (whether a lawyer or an economist) with a thorough understanding of the most recent economic theories of monopolization, and learn how to apply these concepts in practice. You will also get acquainted with the most important abuse of dominance cases, identify their key features, and understand how to assess them. Some of the high-profile cases in digital markets that are treated in this course are the following: 

• Google Shopping, Google Android, Google AdSense (EU)

• FTC’s monopolization complaint against Facebook (US)

• Department of Justice’s complaint against Google (US)

• Apple v. Epic (US)

• Apple Music and Apple Pay (EU)

• Facebook and privacy protection (Germany)

• Amazon Marketplace (Italy)

• Amazon-Flipkart (India)

 Market inquiries on online platforms in the UK and in South Africa have also pointed to possible anti-competitive practices by big technology firms and are likely a prelude to abuse of dominance cases or regulatory-like interventions. Further, abuse of dominance investigations have inspired most of the prohibitions and obligations for gatekeeper platforms in the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

Beyond the digital sector, other recent developments have put the spotlight on abuse of dominance and on how competition agencies and courts should investigate these cases. 

We will treat the path-breaking Intel judgment in Europe, which gives centrality to - and obliges competition agencies to deal with - economic analysis in abuse cases. This can already be seen in the recent Qualcomm (exclusivity) and Google Android judgments by the EU’s General Court. Competition enforcement is also increasingly important in middle-income and developing countries, as witnessed by investigations in such markets as mobile money (Kenya), food and beverages (Mexico, Singapore, Southern Africa), or online sales (India).

Finally, competition authorities in the EU, UK, and South Africa have been conducting excessive price cases in the pharmaceutical industry, to deal with what is a worldwide problem. Such cases also raise several questions, such as: 

• under which circumstances may competition authorities want to start excessive price actions (in those jurisdictions where this is admitted by the law)?

• how should excessive prices be proved?

• to what extent could competition authorities remedy the problem without acting as price regulators.

Acquire a thorough understanding of the most recent economic theories of monopolization, review actual cases and apply the concepts in practice

During this course, you will:

• review established and recent economic theories of abuse through a largely non-formal exposition also accessible to non-economists.

• understand the distinguishing economic features of possible types of abuse, including price and non-price conduct

• identify the core elements of an effects-based approach for the assessment of unilateral conduct

• get acquainted with the most important abuse of dominance cases, and identify their key features

• acquire the tools to apply a sound economic approach to monopolization cases

• review and understand the key economic considerations behind landmark competition cases on abuse of dominance

• learn to structure potential abuse of dominance claims and/or defences in an economically coherent way

• acquire the ability to critically evaluate economic analysis and submissions in abuse of dominance matters

• learn to assess the regulatory risk of a large firm's conduct

• identify the main characteristics of developing economies and their relevance for abuse of dominance, as well as the practical challenges faced by authorities in these jurisdictions

Get acquainted with cases in the digital markets and other recent developments with internationally renowned competition scholars and practitioners, in just 3 days

This intensive course  is taught by expert faculty who have authored some of the most important research contributions in this area, and have extensive experience in the application of economic techniques to competition cases of abuse of dominance (or monopolization) practices, in jurisdictions all over the world, including middle-income and developing countries.